The senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi made a two-day visit to the relief camps in Manipur.
High drama took place during the trip to Manipur, as his fleet of cars were stopped at the Bishnupur police station, thinking that the motorcade could face attacks. In turn, Gandhi turned back and flew down by a helicopter to Churachandpur.
On Thursday, he went to Churachandpur relief camp, a town that was badly affected by the ethnic riots and haunted the northeastern states from the last two months.
On Friday, he met people in Moirang who were affected in the town due to violence and riots. It was also said that the Congress leader would meet 10 like-minded leaders and a few members from the organization of civil society in Imphal.
Rahul Gandhi had visited Manipur for the first time in the last two months after the outbreak of violence on 3rd May 2023. He made a tweet on Thursday that, “He visited the town to listen to all of his brothers and sisters of Manipur. He said all the people from different communities are very much loving and welcoming. It is so miserable that the government is not allowing him to talk to people. The only priority for the people in Manipur is peace and the state needs healing”, the congress leader tweeted.
Nearly 50,000 people are staying underneath 300 relief camps across the Manipur state since the start of the ethnic disputes in May 2023.
Almost 100 people in the northeastern state have lost their lives due to the ethnic violence between 2 major communities of the town i.e Meitei community and Kuki community.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswas Sarma responding to Rahul Gandhi’s visit to Manipur, told ANI that, “The central and the state government should take the responsibility and try to bring the situation under control. There isn’t any necessity for the political leaders to visit the violence prone area, because they will not bring any solution to the present situation. We should not take any political advantage using the sad situation of the state. If at all there is any positive outcome from their visit then it is good, otherwise all this will just be news to the media”.
While speaking to the ANI reporter, Manipur Congress president Keisham Meghachandra said, “Rahul Gandhi will visit the relief camps and meet all the families that were affected in Moirang. Later, he will come back to Imphal. He will meet United Naga Council’s leaders, civil society organization leaders along with 10 like-minded political parties and women leaders at Imphal hotel. The Congress leader has come here only for peace”, he said.
On Thursday, the police said the situation is serious in some areas with regular firing incidents from the past 24 hours and the situation seemed normal in most of the districts.
As the violent situation in the state continued to remain tense, the Manipur state government decided to postpone the reopening of all the schools in the state till 8th July 2023.
The government has appointed almost 36,000 security officials and 40 IPS officers in the state to monitor the violent situation in Manipur and to safeguard the people in the town.
